MG408 Graduate Challenge Assignment (GC0723)
Module Title: MG408 Graduate Challenge
Assignment No and Type: CW1 Business Report
Functional areas of McDonald
Functional areas of business refer to the grouping of business processes or activities on the basis of business needs. The functional areas of a business differ depending on business sizes and types of business (Brittion et al., 2018). The key functional areas of a large business (like McDonald) are shown in the diagram below:
Diagram: Functional areas in business organizations Source: Caldew (2018)
This paper defines the role of key functional areas of McDonald’s. McDonald’s is one of the leading food retail chain shops. It is the largest restaurant chain by revenue. It serves about 70 million customers per day in its around 37000 outlets in over 100 countries (McDonald Annual Report, 2017).
Business environment
The business environment refers to the factors that influence the activities and operations of a business (Britton et al., 2018). The business environmental factors are classified as internal and external factors. McDonald’s analyses its internal business environment to identify the challenges that come from its internal factors and to take appropriate action. McDonald’s also analyzes the external environment to identify the challenges that come from external factors such as customers, suppliers, competitors, political, social, economic, technological, legal, and environmental issues (McDonald Annual Report, 2017).
HR (Human Resource)
Human resources is a very essential asset of a business because the heart of a business lies in its employees. Therefore, the HR department is responsible to hire the right people for business, determining wages/salaries of staff, and provide training as required (Palmer, 2012). In terms of McDonald’s, HR functions deal with hiring the right people with the required skills, experiences, and qualifications. It hires people from different cultural and educational backgrounds to fulfill the knowledge gaps in organizations. The HR department of McDonald’s is also responsible to manage staff wage/salaries, reward and incentive schemes, training and development, staff performance, and performance appraisal (Gould, 2013).
Marketing
The key responsibility of the marketing department of a business is to identify and meet customer changing needs and expectations. That is why the marketing department develops marketing strategies, and applies different marketing tools and techniques to promote products and services towards customers (Brassington and Pettitt, 2012). In terms of McDonald’s, the marketing department uses different tools and techniques to promote its products, prices, places, and promotions. The key aim of McDonald’s marketing activities (such as social media marketing, marketing through online and mass media like TV) to communicate with the target and potential customers, gain long-term success, growth in market share, revenue, and profitability (Marketing Week, 2018).
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Finance
The main roles of the finance department of a business are to deal with auditing, planning, accounting as well as organizing finance of the business. This department is also responsible for creating an effective annual budget for business, creating financial statements, company income statements, cash-flow statements, and balance sheets ((Britton et al., 2018). In the case of McDonald’s, the finance department is responsible for staff wages and salaries, dealing with the business cost and expenditure, and dealing with payment of stakeholder bills. The finance department of McDonald’s also develops investment policies, dividend policies, portfolio policies, and defines appropriate method of finance, short and/or long term sources of finance (McDonald Annual Report, 2017).
Operations/Production
The operation department of a business is responsible for designing, developing, and controlling the production process. The production department deals with manufacturing products by converting inputs into finished goods following several production processes (Britton et al., 2018). The production department of McDonald ensures quality in the production process, from raw materials to finished goods. This department is also responsible to maintain an optimum level of inventory. The operation department of McDonald’s is responsible to ensure the availability of its raw materials and products, quality of its foods, excellent customer service, and speed of service to deliver as customers expect. It also maintains the functional flow of its entire business (Gregory, 2017).
References
Britton, C. Thompson, E. and Worthington, I. (2018) The Business Environment: A Global Perspective. 8th Ed. London: Pearson
Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S. (2012) Principles of Marketing. 6th Ed. Boston: Pearson Education Ltd
Gregory, L. (2017) McDonald’s Operations Management, 10 Decisions, Productivity. Available at: http://panmore.com/mcdonalds-operations-management-10-decisions-areas-productivity. [Accessed on 17 October 2018]
Gould, A. (2013) McDonald’s HR practices. Available at: http://www.hrmonline.com.au/section/hr-capability/mcdonalds-human-resource-practices-still-order-day/. [Accessed on: 19 October 2018]
Marketing Week (2018) McDonald’s Marketing. Available at: https://www.marketingweek.com/focus/mcdonalds/. [Accessed on 18 October 2018]
McDonald Annual Report (2017) McDonald Corporation Annual Report. Available at: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/63908/000006390818000010/mcd1231201710k.pdf. [Accessed on 15 October 2018]
Palmer, A (2012) Introduction to Marketing. 3rd Ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press
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